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Forever Blue With Ian Cheeseman

I’m writing this column after Manchester City’s home defeat to Leeds United in the Premier League but before the two huge games the Blues face in four days, starting with the trip to Dortmund in the Champions League and followed by the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley. 

I suspected that Pep Guardiola would select a City team for the visit of Leeds that didn’t feature its biggest stars, but I felt he went a bit too far. I know that if just one of the key players had played and picked up an injury that everyone would have been screaming that they shouldn’t have been playing. I’m also old enough to remember the dark days when City languished in the third tier of English football, so I should emphasise that it’s not the defeat that bothers me, it’s the circumstances around it. 

Everyone who supports a team knows that you can’t win every game. What bothers me is that professional football is an entertainment, as well as a sport, but by leaving out so many of the stars, the quality of the game was diminished and the sporting integrity was compromised too. I completely accept that the die-hard City fans reading this will say, “so what, the next two games are more important”. I have no argument against that, but how far do you take that logic. If City had been allowed to give Leeds the three points by forfeiting the game, thereby not needing to risk any players, would that have been OK? If your answer to that is yes, then we’ll have to agree to disagree. 

Ederson is City’s first choice goalkeeper, should he have been rested too, just in case he turned his ankle when racing out to make a clearance? Gundogan and Foden came on as substitutes, what if they’d got injured during their time on the pitch, would those who agreed with resting key players have said bringing them on had been unnecessary? 

No supporters were allowed inside the Etihad Stadium, so my next argument would only have applied if there had been paying spectators present, but I’ll make it anyway because the same types of decisions are made year after year. If I was a fan who couldn’t afford a season ticket, couldn’t get regular access to games or perhaps had flown over to Manchester at a high cost, for the treat of a lifetime, how disappointed would I be to see this all conquering team field none of the stars I idolised and lose to a team that was newly promoted and was down to ten men for half a game? 

If I attended a West End or Broadway show I’d be furious if all the main cast members had a night off when I was there because they were saving themselves for a gala performance in front of VIPs or for TV the following week. Can you see my point now? 

It’s also worth pointing out that there is a danger that losing a game like that affects the confidence of the squad and improves the mood of the opponents you are about to face in crucial games. I suppose the other observation I’d make about the disappointing performance against Leeds is that the players who played, most of which now know they are the backup players, are not at the same high level as those sat on the bench. 

I sincerely hope that City win in Germany and at Wembley this week. If they do the Leeds game will be quickly forgotten but by sacrificing victory against Leeds the pressure is even greater now on City to win those two games. The last thing any City fan would want, of course, is that United keep winning, as they did at Spurs and that City rest players in their next Premier League game against Aston Villa, which is the fixture between the FA Cup semi-final and the League Cup Final, and slip up again. But City surely have the Premier League title done and dusted, despite this slip, don’t they?

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